Nucleon Emission Number as a Probe of Isospin-Dependent N–N Cross Section in Photonuclear Reactions

Based on the modified isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics model, the number of emitted nucleons in a photonuclear reaction is studied with different symmetry potentials and different isospin-dependent nucleon-nucleon (N–N) collision cross sections. It is found that the number of emitted nucleons is sensitive to the isospin-dependent nucleon-nucleon cross section when the photon's energy is higher than 150 MeV, while it is insensitive to symmetry potential. The number of emitted neutrons is more sensitive to N–N collision cross sections than that of protons. It is realized that the number of emitted neutrons can be used as a sensitive probe to extract the information of the isospin-dependent N–N cross section at high energy photonuclear reactions.